


Nice Work If You Can Get It

by baethoven



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1940s, Alternate Universe - Noir, Detective Noir, Film Noir, Hux is the dogged detective, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Kylo Ren is the femme fatale, Los Angeles, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Period-Typical Homophobia, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-11 17:46:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7901944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baethoven/pseuds/baethoven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hux had read those pulp novels with the strong jawed detective on the cover and a starry eyed dame draped over him. He would be lying if he said that it hadn't influenced his career path towards being a PI. He just never imagined that Kylo Ren would be playing the role of the femme fatale. </p><p>But then, which other old flame of his would have the audacity to trample into his office with a dangerous case and an alluring promise of trouble?"</p><p>1940's Noir Inspired AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Job

_" Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."_

_-_ Rick Blaine,  _Casablanca_

 

It was muggy out, the sun high in the sky and beating down on all it could touch, the clouds dark and foreboding behind the San Gabriels. In Hux's limited experience, these types of encounters usually happened in the dead of night, when the sidewalks were slicked wet and the bars pouring out their sad clientele onto the streets; not when it was bright outside and any person walking down the street could see a shadowy figure walk into Hux's office. But it was noon when Hux got back to his office and the corner of the door's window had been punched open. A spider web of cracks splintered up, fault lines running through  _A. Hux,_ _Private Investigator._

 _Never a good start_ , Hux thought sourly. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and thumbed the trigger of his Colt .32 before opening the door. 

Hux's office was a small thing in China Town, sitting in the shadow of Chavez Ravine on the other side of the road that cut through the old Arroyo Seco canyon. He'd got it on discount for a good price from his landlord in exchange for a favor he had once done her. Sometimes she would come in and tidy up for him, find him sleeping face down on his desk surrounded by burnt out cigarettes and empty bottles of gin like a halo, and noisely shuffle around him, straightening things up until he was duly shamed and awake. Mrs. Chang had usually used the door knob, though.

He opened the door, glass crunching beneath his shoes as he stepped past the threshold and peered inside with narrowed eyes. 

It was dark save for the strip of light that illuminated the intruder's face. Hux registered it all in a blink of an eye- the broad forehead, the angular nose beat crooked, two plush lips, and a strong chin; his memory filled in the rest for him.

"Never thought I'd see the day you'd go legit," said Kylo Ren. He was seated behind Hux's desk, his legs kicked up and over Hux's scattered case files. 

Hux closed the door behind him and set his briefcase down. He kept his finger on the trigger.

"One of us had to, eventually," Hux said.

Time might have broadened Kylo Ren, filled out his shoulders and chest to some kind of Adonian perfection, but it hadn't taken away the nasty sneer he'd get when Hux took a dig at him. 

"As much as I once loved your moralizing, I'm not here to relive the past," Kylo said in a voice deeper than Hux had ever heard him use. 

Hux sighed and let go of his pistol; nothing would be going off in this encounter, including Hux.

"I guessed as much when I saw the window," Hux said. He was already annoyed at Kylo, a feat the younger man easily accomplished. From the look on Kylo's face, he knew it too.

"Sorry about that," Kylo said in an unapologetic voice.

"So you're here for a consultation then," Hux said. Usually, this was the part where he would offer his client a seat in one of the red chairs he had found dumped on the side of the Santa Ana freeway, but Kylo smirked at him from behind his desk and stayed seated. Feeling indulgent and just a little intimidated by Kylo's new set of muscles, he sat down on the other side of his desk, feeling wrong. He took out his pack of Lucky's and the lighter he kept in his front pocket an lit a smoke; Kylo had a way of setting him on edge, and if this really was work, he would need to keep his cool.

"Something like that," Kylo said. "I heard you're for hire these days."

Hux blinked through the haze of smoke, the image of Kylo shifting in the grey tendrils; for a moment, he was the boy with painted lips and bruises round his throat. He shook his head and gave Ren a pointed look.

"Interesting choice of words," he mumbled. He took a drag from his cigarette while Kylo scowled, no doubt remembering the same thing as him.

"If you're not interested, that's fine, but I never knew you to be one to turn down money."

Hux sighed and flicked the ash gathering at the tip of his cigarette onto Kylo's boots, already tiring at their exchange of well placed barbs. 

"What's the case?" he asked instead of taking Kylo's proffered bait.

Kylo dragged his feet from the top of Hux's desk, taking down a few folders and papers with him, and walked over to the sad liquor cart that sat in the corner. He unscrewed a bottle of gin and poured two fingers for Hux (which amounted to four normal people fingers). 

"I'd put ice in it, but I doubt you've got any lyin' around," Ren said as he handed it over.

"How considerate of you," Hux mumbled. The drink didn't burn going down as much as Kylo's thinly veiled insults. 

"My boss is under a bit of fire right now," Ren started as he poured himself a glass. "He's got somebody breathing down his neck and word around town is he's got a hit out for him."

Hux gagged a little on his drink before setting it down. "I'm legitimate now, remember? Got a license and everything."

Kylo shrugged demurely, made a show of it-  _old habits die hard,_ Hux thought- before saying, "My boss is a legitimate man." 

"Legitimate men don't get hit's put out on them," Hux argued back.

Kylo walked around the table and sat back against it, knocking over a cup of pens and distracting Hux with the sight of his thighs in tailored trousers. "We both know that's not true."

Hux tried to squash down his sudden arousal and shifted his pistol aside. "So, your  _very legitimate_  boss has a hit put out on him. Can I ask why?" 

Kylo sipped at his drink and shrugged. "That's not important."

"That's entirely important," Hux argued.

"Next question."

"Ok, do I at least get your bosses name and his _legitimate_ business?"

Kylo smirked down at him, evidently pleased with Hux, and said, "His name is Snoke and he runs a shipping company."

Hux got up and set down his drink, reached around Kylo for his note pad; it brought them close together, almost eye to eye. Kylo had grown in the last four years, gained a few inches on Hux that were not previously there. The dark haired boy with sad eyes had grown up into someone Hux barely recognized; if it weren't for his distinctive facial features, Hux would have taken him for any one of the other young gangsters roaming around town. 

He took the pad and sat back down before he did anything he'd regret. He jot down  _Snoke_ and  _shipping company_ and  _lies._

"Anyway I can speak to your boss, one on one, to get a better picture of the situation?" Hux asked.  _Since you're being annoyingly obtuse,_ Hux kept to himself.

Kylo shook his head, his long black hair bouncing at his shoulders. "No can do. I've been instructed to be his intermediary. He'd rather stay apart from the whole situation."

"The situation where his life is in danger." 

"Precisely."

Hux already had a headache, and it wasn't from the pervious night's hangover or the gin. 

"So I'm supposed to find a hit man whose motive is unknown, without even getting a chance to talk to the person who is hiring me."

Kylo nodded. "Simple as that."

"Give me one reason why I should even take this case!"

Kylo pushed off the table and into Hux's space, right between his spread legs. He leaned down and all Hux could see was his moles and his eyes, colored like the hills after a wild fire. He smelled like gun oil and gasoline, and something dark that had always been solely him. 

"I need a good man for this," Kylo said in a low murmur, his lips inches from Hux's, "and you're the best man I know."

 _Damn him_ , Hux cursed inwardly even as he leaned forward to close the distance.

Kylo was faster though and backed away, letting Hux jerk into the empty space he once occupied.

"Glad you're on it," Kylo said. "I'll be in  _touch_."

"Are you going to leave me a number?" Hux asked. 

Kylo shook his head. "No, too risky. I'll come find you when I need you."

He walked out of Hux's office. He closed the door gingerly, and the glass only rattled slightly.

"I'm charging you for that," Hux called after.

Hux had learned long ago to steer clear of mysterious cases from dubious sources. These days he spent his time doing investigative work for people being harassed by LAPD or trying to catch their spouses in affairs. Things that would be on the table, documented and clear of any subterfuge. He had helped Mrs. Chang with her husband's immigration paper work, his 'investigations' actually consisting of him calling up numbers and taking her to the right offices. His days of dalliances in black market work had long been dead. Never in a million years did he think he woul let himself end up here, chasing the loose ends of a dubious case all because his ex old broke into his office.

Hux had read those pulp novels with the strong jawed detective on the cover and a starry eyed dame draped over him. He would be lying if he said that it hadn't influenced his career path towards being a PI. He just never imagined that Kylo Ren would be playing the role of the femme fatale.

But then, which other old flame of his would have the audacity to trample into his office with a dangerous case and an alluring promise of trouble?

He sighed and finished his gin, and then picked up the phone; he had a call to make. 

 

 


	2. Name and Address

 

_"I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice."_

_-_ Kasper Gutman,  _The Maltese Falcon_

 

 

The phone call Hux made was to the diner down the street. 

" _Alex's Diner, how can I help you?"_

The voice was young and bright, and as always, exceptionally irritated. Just the person Hux was looking for.

"Can I speak to Rey?" Hux asked in a cheeky voice. 

There was a brief pause on the line, filled with the crackling electric static of the phone and high pitched clinking of plates and cutlery in the background. Then, there was cursing.

" _The fuck do you want, Hux_?" Rey snapped.

"I was just wondering if you guys have a phone book down there?" Hux asked. 

_"Yes we do, but I don't see why that;s any of your business-"_

"Great, thanks," Hux said, and then hung the phone up. 

The diner was called  _Alex's_ , a greasy spoon affair with peeling upholstery and tile floor cracked from the '33 Huntington Quake. It served standard fare and strong, bitter coffee for a nickel; it was also the favorite spot of off duty cops in the area. Many hours of Hux's investigations had been spent sitting in the corner booth with a view of the whole establishment, drinking alarming amounts of coffee with the  _Los Angeles Times_ in his hands and eavesdropping on loose-lipped cops.

It was also the work place of one of his most useful informants, Rey Skywalker, a short woman in her young twenties who always ready to greet him with a scowl and a sharp tongue. She seemed to know everybody in town and all the gossip. Despite her verbal lacerations of him, she usually complied when there was a promise of a tip.

Hux grabbed a pen and his field notes, and donned his hat before walking out the door. He grimaced at the punched out hole, dreading the moment when Mrs. Chang would inevitably notice it. It was a short walk down to the diner, and by the time he got there, the sun was skewed off towards it's 2 o'clock position and the establishment mostly empty. The door's bell jangled loudly as he walked in, and Rey rounded the corner with the fiercest scowl he'd seen on her yet.

"You can't just call me in the middle of a shift; I'll get fired one of these days," she said accusingly, pointing a finger at Hux.

Hux shrugged off his jacket and hat and gave her his best grin. "Got that phonebook?" he asked.

She crouched down behind the counter and lugged up the huge thing while Hux sat down at his booth; she brought it over and dropped it violently on the table, rattling the glass ketchup bottles and forks laid out. Hux sat there placidly and stared at her with a cocked brow.

"Here's your phonebook."

"Thanks, I'll take a cup of coffee too," Hux said, privately enjoying the twitch of anger that flashed cross her face. She seemed to be most beautiful when she was pissed at Hux, which was almost always. Unbidden, the memory of Kylo Ren's face contorted with fury came to mind, his eyes captivating with the fire of his scorn.  _The two of them are so similar,_ he treacherously thought. 

Hux grimaced and shook his head, banishing the idea.  _This is work_ , he insisted to himself while he opened the phonebook,  _keep it professional._

Hux flipped through the phonebook, scanning the listed businesses as Rey filled his cup; he only bothered looking up when she sat a plate with a cherry danish infront of him.

"I didn't order this," Hux said flatly. 

"No, but you're going to," Rey replied. 

"I wasn't planning on staying long."

Rey rolled her eyes and sat down across from him. "Yeah, you always say that, and yet by hour two you'll be asking for your pastry. I thought I'd expedite the process."

Hux grimaced around his bite of danish. "Don't you have work to do?"

The place was completely empty except for the cook whistling off key in the kitchen. "No."

Hux sighed and made a point of dragging his finger down a page, reading each name carefully and ignoring the look Rey was giving him.

"So, is this for a case?" Rey asked.

"No, I wanted to read the phonebook for pleasure."

"Jesus, you're exceptionally cantankerous today. Must be an infuriating case," Rey said.

Hux abandoned the phone book for the moment to level Rey a stern look. "It'd be less infuriating if you let me be."

"Out with it, Red," she said. "What's got you so riled up?"

Hux rubbed a hand across his face, knowing he didn't have an out once Rey had her full attention on him. 

"It's kind of personal," he admitted.

Rey blinked and then smiled at him in her crooked, charming way. 

" _Hux_ ," she breathed out, excitedly gripping the table, "Is there a  _lady_ involved?"

Hux rubbed the back of his head and muttered, "Sure, a  _lady_. An ex, actually."

Hux couldn't imagine a scenario where Kylo Ren and Rey would ever meet, so he saw no harm in letting her in on the situation. Sometimes, Rey was exceptionally insightful, at least when she wasn't too busy thinking the worst of him. 

"Which ex?" Rey asked.

"Uh," Hux said awkwardly, stalling as he tried to think. "Her name was Kyla."

"Kyla," Rey breathed out in a dreamy voice. "What'd she look like?"

Hux told the truth- somewhat. "Tall, nice long legs. Dark hair and dark eyes." 

"Sounds gorgeous," Rey said in a deadpanned voice. Hux rolled his eyes.

"Things didn't end well between us, and I hadn't seen Kyl- Kyla in four years. I think they're mixed up in something bad- came in with a dangerous sounding case and a promise of good pay."

"And you didn't tell her to scram?"

Hux shook his head- the thought hadn't even occurred to him to make Kylo leave. The sight of Kylo wrapped up in expensive, tailored clothes, his shoulders straining the dark fabric of his shirt, and his black hair waving down to his shoulders, infuriatingly thick- well, it had stopped Hux in his tracks. He had spent the last four years wondering what happened to the man, and to have him materialize in his office like an apparition after such a long time; what else was Hux to do but hear what he had to say?

He was just sorry he didn't manage to touch him after all that time.

"Kyla claimed the person they're working for has a hit out for them, and asked me to figure it out and stop it."

Rey stared at him with weary eyes and said, "That's pretty serious. A lot more than what you usually take on."

"I know," Hux sighed. He had been trying to ignore the dread that sat thick in his stomach from the moment he saw Kylo, but with the late afternoon sun pouring through the window and on his face, stark like an accusation, Hux had to acknowledge it.

Rey took the danish from Hux and took a bite, and for a moment the cherry center colored her lips a shiny red, as if they were glistening with blood. She licked it away and asked, "So, where do you start?"

Hux looked down to the page and tracked his finger down to the entry that caught his eye. He ripped out the page and folded it.

"I've got a name," he said as he tucked it into his pocket behind his pack of cigarettes, "and now I've got an address."

On the flimsy sheet of yellow paper was printed  _Snoke, J._ and an address for  _First Order Shipping._

 

 


	3. A Respectable Business

 

" _I suspect nobody and everybody."_

-Mark McPherson,  _Laura_

 

The world began and ended with the county line, as far as Angelinos were concerned. If Downtown and it's skyscrapers were the heart and center of the world, then the harbor was the edge of the map where monsters lurked just off page. 

Hux parked his car beneath an overpass in an empty lot, and scanned the shipyard. Civilian life was dead on a weekday in the rest of the basin, but down here people were just clocking in for their night shifts; tall men with bulking muscles from the hard work of manual labor, uniforms black from oil and grease and skin tanned from long hours in the sun. Hux lit a cigarette and watched the day shift and night shift move past each other in opposing currents. The on-duty men walked with their time cards towards a building in the distance; it was a single level affair with yellow lit windows and cracks up the stucco facade. The red-lettered neon glinted in the encroaching fog,  _First Order Shipping Co._ glowing menacingly. 

Hux lit a cigarette and sat there in the front bench of his car, waiting for the foot traffic to die down a bit before it was safe enough to wander around. The radio was on low and playing some older tunes, numbers that reminded Hux of a time past. Just as his thoughts were about to turn romantic and go down somewhere he wasn't inclined to follow, the door to  _First Order_ opened up, and two figures shuffled out.  One was small and unremarkable, enshrouded with a low set hat and trench-coat. The other was at least a foot taller and Hux scowled the moment of recognition.

Kylo walked with a puffed up chest, trying to make himself as big as possible, to seem more menacing. He was covered in black from head to toe: black pants and shirt, with gleaming shoes and a vest that cut sharply down his narrow waist, made his shoulders seem broader. Hux sneered at the sight of it even as he watched Ren walk towards a stack of shipping containers. The Ren Hux had once known had always seemed dangerous, no matter what he'd been wearing. The man didn't need to play dress up to scare a person- the unhinged look in his eye and frenetic energy that rippled from him served that purpose well enough. 

Hux had been so busy watching Ren and thinking resentful thoughts that he didn't get a close look at Ren's companion. When he remembered he was on here on a case and not just to stare daggers into his ex's back, he looked down at the smaller man beside Ren. The hat cast a shadow on his face and hid him from Hux. All he caught before they walked into a container was the gleam of a gold wrist watch.

Hux moved the moment they walked inside the container, left his car and made his way to a group of men standing on the side of the  _First Order Shipping_ building, smoking cigarettes in it's shadow and raucously laughing.

"Hey there fellas', got a spare smoke?" Hux asked. 

The men eyed his two piece suit skeptically, but one shrugged and pulled a pack, slapped it against his palm. "Sure thing." 

Hux took the offered cigarette and one of the other men lit it. One of the men asked, "You've got an appointment with the boss?"

Hux smirked at them, hoping to look like a smarmy business man and said, "How'd you guess?"

"Don't look like you're down here to operate some cranes is all we're saying," another man answered. 

"I figure you're right," Hux nodded. "I'm here to see Snoke."

"Oh yeah? You from the Port Office down in Long Beach?" 

Hux blew out an air of smoke between them and said, "No, here on business. Why would Port Officers be visiting at 9 in the evening?" 

The men had the wherewithal to look chagrined, and Hux guessed that these visits happened often very late in the evening, and  _First Order Shipping_ workers weren't exactly supposed to be privy to it. 

"No sir," the same man replied stiffly. "Sorry bout that, you forget most people don't work nights when you do."

Hux dropped the cigarette on the asphalt, ground his foot on it to snuff out the flame. "Not a worry, boys. I used to work nights, I know how it can get. Sorry to bother you."

The men eyed him warily and mumbled 'goodnights' at him. Hux walked around the building to the front office; it was better for appearances that he at least was seen going in if he was sticking with the visiting businessman shtick. 

The inside was unassuming, with ugly carpet and nondescript office furniture. The secretary's desk had no one behind it. In fact, no one seemed to be in the office, apparently abandoned and empty for the day. Hux went to the secretary's desk and opened up her Rolodex, flipped through the names and address of different shipping companies and business men, eyes scanning for anything out of the ordinary. In the back was a card Hux thought had been misalphabetized, the  _T_ jumping out at him after all the  _Y's_ and  _Z's._ Hux read it quickly and then tore it out, tucked it in his breast pocket. 

Before Hux could walk over to the file cabinets and pry them open, he was knocked out cold by a blow to the back of the head. If he'd had the chance to think before pain and darkness quickly subdued him, it probably would have been something like  _how fucking cliched._

When Hux came back around, it was to a large palm cupping his face and urgent, half whispers.

"Hux, you fool," Kylo said lowly, running his fingers up and down Hux's jaw, over the blossoming bruises, "I told you not to get too close."

"Kylo?" Hux murmured, nuzzling against the warm palm despite his baser, animal instincts telling him he was in danger. "What's going on?"

Kylo backed away and Hux's head fell forward. Vertigo dropped through him as he jolted into nothing. 

"What the fuck is going on?" Hux snarled. He opened his eyes and his vision blurred; two Kylo's stood before him, one with a scowl and another with a look of open fear and desperation. Hux felt nauseated watching the two resolve into a man he did not recognize. 

"I apologize for my assistant's behavior," came a voice from the door. Kylo stiffened and looked down to the floor like a shamed beast. "He has the tendency to be trigger happy."

Hux knew a threat when he heard one; he snorted back some of the blood oozing from his nose and met the man's eyes. "No harm done, Mr. Snoke." 

Snoke laughed at him, evidently pleased that Hux had pieced this much together. He was an ugly, balded man with a gnarled face, scarred by some terrible accident. Hux squinted at him openly, chalked up his lack of decorum to the concussion and wondered if it was acid or fire that had marred the man so badly. Snoke didn't look like a model of ethical business practices- he looked like a man who had been hunted many times, and always came out on top, no matter the cost. 

"Well done, Mr. Hux," Snoke said, pulling up a chair to sit across from Hux. He was so close their knees almost bumped. Kylo stayed behind, his eyes wide and face flushed red, disturbed. "Or should I call you Armitage?" 

Hux didn't roll his eyes, but it was a near thing. "Just call me 'Hux'."

Snoke nodded and said, "Alright, Hux. I'm sorry we've met under such dubious circumstances. My assistant here said you came highly recommended and were very discreet. I hadn't anticipated on meeting you face to face."

Hux rolled his neck, stretching out the kinks he'd gotten from when he fell. "Sir, with all due respect, it's a little hard to work a case when there's holes in your information. Your assistant was vague-" and here Hux shot a glare at Ren, before saying, "and I needed the full picture. I thought it best to come and get it myself."

Snoke nodded in consideration, eyes narrowed on Hux as he thought. "Perhaps you're right. And it does show good mettle that you were able to find me so quickly. Having two day's head start from when Kylo approached you, that's almost impressive."

 _That's not right_ , Hux thought to himself. Unless he had been knocked out for longer than he thought, Kylo had just come to him that day. Under any circumstances, that was rather impressive, though Hux was inclined to tell Snoke he didn't exactly keep himself well hidden. Hux glanced over to Kylo, whose face was suddenly blank, wiped clean of any emotional inflection. Usually meant the kid was trying his damnedest to hide something-  _he has the worst pokerface,_ Hux thought even as he put on his own; the boastful face of a PI, cocksure, overconfident. Easier to make people underestimate you when you visibly overestimate yourself was what Hux had come to learn. 

"Well, you've got the best man on the case," Hux said. 

Snoke cocked an eyebrow at him. "Evidently."

 _Good_ , Hux thought,  _I've got an in._  

"So, what exactly is going on with this case? Mr. Ren told me that someone is trying to kill you, but he wouldn't give me any motives or known enemies. Makes it hard to find a killer when you're missing the clues."

Snoke pulled back his shirt sleeve and looked at the time on his watch. The lone single light shining down above them glinted off the watch, blinding Hux to the time. 

"I am currently in the middle of a merger with another shipping company,  _Imperial Shipping_. Together we would be responsible for about 60% of what comes in and out of the port. Naturally, that has made some of our competitors anxious, and as such, I've been receiving threats of a more violent nature."

None of that sounded particularly nefarious to Hux, but something more was going on beneath the surface. 

"What kind of goods do your company ship?" Hux asked. 

Snoke blinked at him, his lips pulled down in a permanent scowl from whatever violence had befallen his face. 

"Textiles, primarily, sometimes machinery and other goods. All perfect legal and above the table. The Port Office checks most shipments, of course," Snoke said. His voice didn't even so much as waver, and Hux nodded, looked to Kylo Ren whose eyes were still on his, brows pulled low and plush lips pursed flat. 

"So these threats are from competitors then, more of a territorial dispute than anything personal?" Hux asked. 

Snoke checked his watch again, absently said, "Well, when a man's livelihood is threatened it tends to make anything personal."

Hux nodded, but didn't trust a lick of it. Most people would fight for their work, sure, but murdering was out of the realm of what a normal man would do. The way Snoke threw it out so casually, like this was something that often happened to him, made it all the worse.

"So, what is it you want me to do, exactly?" Hux asked.

Snoke dragged his sleeve over his watch, obscuring the face once more. "I want you to find out who in particular is leveling these threats against me and my business. If you can find the names myself and my associates will take care of it from there."

"Seems pretty cut and dry. Couldn't you guess who you're squeezing out and go from there? Why pay me?" Hux asked.  

Snoke crossed his legs and placed his hands in his laps, cocked his head to the side. The popping sound the joints in his neck made were sickening, echoed in the empty room. This was a man, despite all appearances, that a person would not want to wrong. 

"I'm paying you because I'd rather keep myself apart from it all. This merger is a legal nightmare and we have council members breathing down are necks. I have enough problems dealing with all their demands in a timely manner. I don't want to jeopardize any of my work because of some scheme. That's what Private Investigators are for, are they not?" 

Hux shrugged. Personally, he thought that was what the hired brawn was for, but maybe Snoke was smart and knew better than to trust Kylo further than he could throw him. Hux glanced at Kylo, his thick black hair like a curtain around him, his face angry but eyes worried, and reasoned he didn't trust Kylo much either. 

"I bill by the hour," Hux said. 

"Be sure to send your billings to my secretary, and you will be paid promptly," Snoke replied, and then getting up, "I apologize, but I have an appointment to attend to. Ren will show you out."

Snoke exited the room on silent feet, leaving Hux in his chair and Kylo shifting from one foot to another.

"Thanks for knocking me out, asshole," Hux spat out as he got up on shaking legs.

"Sorry, it was for protection," Kylo snapped back.

"Snoke doesn't look like he needs much protecting, and I don't think I could take you in a fight these days," Hux said. 

"It was for your protection," Kylo mumbled, turning his back and walking towards the door.

"Wait, Kylo," Hux said, reaching out and placing a hand on the man's shoulder. Kylo was bigger now, all the softness gone out of him and replaced by thick muscle, but he still burned a few degrees too hot, was scorching to the touch. Kylo turned around and looked at Hux with those big brown eyes that had once caught him up four years ago in a nightclub downtown. He'd been dressed different then, in black silk and pearls, his boyish figure trussed up and the soft angles of his feminine face entrancing. Kylo had been everything a man could have wanted back then, with smooth skin and long limbs, a deep voice and charcoal smeared around his eyes. It wasn't surprising Hux had been caught in his web. But Kylo was so much more now, power and danger barely harnessed, no longer a boy but a man barely contained. And right then he was shaking, looking at Hux like he was a threat, like he was Ren's only hope. "What's going on?" Hux asked.  _What can I do for you,_ he thought.

Kylo shook his head and said, "I've given you all I can. The rest is up to you."

"Are you safe?" Hux asked. 

Kylo's laugh was a lot more bitter now, darker in timbre and low, but it still had that lilting, off pitch quality Hux remembered. "I'm safe, you don't have to worry about me. But, watch your back out there."

Hux nodded an let Kylo Ren usher him out the door. The shipyard was empty; Hux wondered if the sight of Snoke spooked the men away, or if whatever meeting Snoke was attending to required all surrounding areas to be abandoned. Maybe the men had just gone off to do their work. 

When they reached Hux's car, Kylo hesitated. Hux waited, watched him gnaw on whatever he to say, before Ren opened his mouth.

"I told Snoke I was going to find you yesterday, but I went somewhere else instead, tried to do some investigating of my own," Kylo admitted. "You've got more of a sense for these things than I do, but some of the heat is coming from some city council members. Snoke doesn't believe me, but I think the threats are from the members that oversee Port Operations."

Kylo handed Hux a folded piece of paper. "Might be a good place to start."

Hux nodded and slipped it in his pocket, beside the ripped out Rolodex card. "Thanks."

Kylo looked down at Hux like he had something more to say, but thought better of it and swallowed it down. "See you around Hux."

Hux climbed into his car, ready to drive off and get a pack of ice for the back of his head, but Kylo placed a hand on the door frame, kept it open long enough to say, "And Hux? Keep an eye for a freighter. It's got some dangerous people on there." 

"Kylo, there's hundreds of freighters in the Los Angeles harbor," Hux sighed, his irritation getting the better of him. Hux had no love for the vague, and Kylo was hell bent on making this case as foggy s possible. 

"You'll know this one when you see it," Kylo insisted. "It's called the  _Millennium Falcon._ For your own safety, steer clear of it."

He shut Hux's door and walked off, trudged back towards the red glow of  _First Order Shipping Co._ Hux had a sinking feeling that Kylo Ren was a lot more involved in this mess than Snoke had let on. 

Hux keyed the ignition and turned on his car, the radio no longer crooning music. Instead, the night host informed the audience that it was 11:30 PM. Too late for Hux to ring up the numbers in his pocket, but evidently not too late a time for a respectable businessman like Snoke to conduct meetings. 

Oh well,  _Tarkin, Wilhuff_ and  _Organa, Leia_ would just have to wait until the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for keeping up! Come talk to me on [my tumblr](celloing.tumblr.com).

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking a Film Noir class at the moment, so this is a super indulgent fic produced from watching movies every week. Thanks for reading! [Come find me on tumblr.](celloing.tumblr.com)
> 
> (I know strictly speaking _Casablanca_ isn't a film noir, but it is shot like one at moments.)


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